I. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed towards a card assembly for use with a computer display device.
II. Background of the Invention
Often, computer users place utilitarian objects in their field of view near the display screen. Some examples of these useful items include handwritten notes and manufacturer supplied instruction guides that set forth software commands. In addition, as computer users spend countless hours facing their display screens, they often surround their display screens with decorative items that enhance the aesthetic quality of their environment.
Furthermore, in the prior art there exists several devices that allow utilitarian or decorative items to be attached to the computer display device. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,087 discloses a note/memo board that surrounds a computer display device on three sides. This board attaches to the display housing with angled brackets backed with VELCRO(trademark) material that mate with VELCRO(trademark) material strips on the sides and top of the display. Unfortunately, however, this note/memo board is out of the field of the user""s focus as it mounts to the display device behind the plane of the display screen. Moreover, the amount of utilitarian or decorative items that can be attached to, or written on, this board is confined to the limited surface area of this board.
Under another prior art approach, a frame (such as the screen frame sold under the brand name Screenies(trademark)) is detachably affixed to more than one side of a display screen. The computer user can then use this frame for utilitarian or decorative purposes. Unfortunately, the limited surface area of this prior art device also provides a limited amount of space for attaching or writing utilitarian or decorative items. Consequently, there is a need in the art for an apparatus that enables a computer user to position a maximum amount of utilitarian and decorative items in her field of view near the display screen.
These and other needs were met by the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,456, referenced above. Briefly, the system of U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,456 relates to mounting apparatuses for mounting display cards directly to a front bezel surface of a computer display for use, for example, in training personnel to use computers, display cards may include tips and hints for using popular word processing programs, spread sheets, proprietary software programs, or other information pertaining to products and services. The display cards may include printed indicia showing, for example, a summary of useful software commands such as xe2x80x9cshort-cutxe2x80x9d control sequences for triggering commands or scripts for customer service representatives.
Typically, the cards and the mounting apparatuses are employed as training aids to assist personnel or students in learning new material. Without the benefit of the system of U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,456, companies often train personnel, and schools train students by providing user manuals and requiring the personnel or students being trained to learn the software commands by directly consulting the user manuals. Such user manuals, however, may be expensive and may need to be replaced or supplemented with each upgrade of the software. For proprietary software, such upgrades may be frequent and such user manuals may be quite expensive, resulting in significant costs. Also, when personnel are required to learn by consulting user manuals, the time required to effectively train the personnel may also be significant. In particular, the personnel may be reluctant to frequently consult a potentially cumbersome user manual which often is not easily accessible, and therefore may not learn the necessary new material quickly or efficiently. Hence, human trainers are often employed to expedite training, resulting in still further costs.
With the system of U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,456, display cards containing, for example, a summary of pertinent software commands, are provided for mounting directly to the computer display. To learn the pertinent software commands, personnel being trained merely consult the display cards. Depending upon the information provided on the display cards, it may be completely unnecessary to provide a separate user manual. Hence, the costs associated with providing new user manuals or providing supplements or inserts to existing user manuals are substantially avoided. Rather, only the costs associated with providing the relatively inexpensive display cards and the mounting apparatuses of the invention may be incurred. Such is particularly desirable when training personnel to use proprietary software subject to frequent upgrades which would otherwise require obtaining frequent, and possibly expensive, user manual updates. Moreover, by eliminating the need to consult cumbersome user manuals, personnel being trained may be trained much more quickly and efficiently, further reducing training costs. Indeed, human trainers may no longer be required.
With the system, the display cards are mounted parallel with the display screen of the computer such that personnel being trained can easily reference information by simply glancing at the display cards. Hence, the speed by which new information provided on the cards can be consulted is greatly increased. Also, personnel being trained are simply more likely to consult reference information when such reference information is provided immediately adjacent to, and parallel with, the computer display, than when provided separately. Hence, training time can be significantly reduced.
Depending upon the amount of information required to be summarized, several display cards may be provided to personnel or students. With the system of U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,456, the display cards are pivotally mounted such that personnel or students being trained can easily flip to the card containing the desired information. Also, the display cards are mounted to the display screen of the computer using semi-ring card holding members such that the cards can be quickly replaced with new cards to accommodate upgrades, or to switch from one software program or module to another.
Although the display card system described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,456 represents a significant improvement over predecessor systems, still further room for improvement remains and the invention of the present application is directed to providing further improvements.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a system is provided which includes a computer display device having a screen, a pocket for holding one or more cards, and at least one mounting hinge for pivotably mounting the pocket to a surface of the computer display device. By providing a pocket for holding one or more cards for pivotably mounting to a computer display device, the cards are thereby protected from damage while mounted to the computer display device. Moreover, individual cards need not include any mounting holes or other mechanism for attaching the card directly to the mounting hinge. Rather, any card, photograph or sheet of paper sized to fit within the pocket can be used. As such, individuals can create their own cards containing computer processing commands, instructions, or other information for insertion into the pocket for easy reference while using the computer display device.
In an exemplary embodiment, two mounting hinges are provided for mounting to upper and lower side portions of the computer display device. Each mounting hinge includes a planar base, a semi-ring pocket-holding member, and a surface-mounting element for mounting the planar base to a front or sire surface of the computer display device. The pocket is rectangular and substantially transparent and includes an opening along a top end thereof permitting insertion and removal of one or more cards. The pocket is detachably mounted to the pair of hinges, with the pocket rotatable between a first position wherein the pocket lies parallel along a portion of the front surface of the display but not obscuring any significant portion of the screen and a second position wherein the pocket extends away from the front surface, also not obscuring any significant portion of the screen.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be described below or will be apparent from the descriptions therein in combination with the accompanying drawings.